Alodia Gosiengfiao
Alodia Almira Arraiza Gosiengfiao (born March 9, 1988 in Quezon City, Philippines) is a Filipina cosplayer model, artist and host. She graduated in 2009 from Ateneo de Manila University with a BFA Information Design Degree. She has been called the "Cosplay Queen" of the Philippines and recognized for contributing toward raising the profile of cosplay. She started cosplaying in 2003 at the age of 15 by joining various competitions in Metro Manila. Her popularity began in 2003 when she won in an event called the C3 Convention in 2003 as Gun Mage Rikku of FFX-2. Since then, she cosplayed over 40 anime, video game and movie titles, appearing in various local and international conventions as a participant,performer, judge or as a guest. Her remarkable achievements in the cosplay community led her way to be recognized by various companies in the Philippines and hired her to endorse their products and services. She is one of the Ambassador and VJ For Animax-Asia known as the "Ani-mates", and the co-host of ABS-CBN's prank show called Laugh Out Loud. She also has been featured in various magazines, newspaper and TV shows locally and abroad. Gosiengfiao also appeared on the Philippine FHM 100 Sexiest Women poll, ranking #87 in 2009 and #76 in 2010. She was named by UNO Magazine as one of the Most Influential Women in the Philippines. In addition to her cosplay activities, for which she is most known, Gosiengfiao is also a blogger, performer, pianist, figure collector and BJD enthusiast. Personal life Alodia Gosiengfiao lives in Quezon City and is fond of art, fashion, video games, photography, collecting toys and figures, gadgets and playing the piano. Her name was taken by her mother in a name book, Alodia means "love" and Almira means "princess". She is of Filipino, Chinese and Spanish descent, her father is a Filipino-Chinese while her mother is Filipino-Spanish. Her parents are Mariglor and Ed Gosiengfiao and she has a younger sister, Ashley Gosiengfiao, who is a professional cosplayer and model as well. Gosiengfiao attended Assumption College (Makati) from pre-school to Grade 2; Miriam College from Grade 3 to 4th Yr High School and Ateneo de Manila University, where she graduated year 2009 with a BFA Information Design degree. * As a High school student, she was a member of the Miriam College High School Pep squad. She also works on art commissions for international clients, illustrating both digital and traditional artworks. Cosplaying had an alternate/flip cover that marks the first magazine cover appearance of Alodia Gosiengfiao (left) and her sister Ashley (right), as part of its coverage of the 2003 C3 Convention in which Alodia first came to the attention of the wider Filipino public. It would, incidentally, also be the magazine's last issue.]]Gosiengfiao became involved in cosplay after contact with other anime and video game enthusiasts in an internet fan forum called Animé Club. Encouraged by her friends from the forum, she started cosplaying in 2003 at the age of 15, joining various competitions in Metro Manila. Her first cosplayed character was a Priestess from Ragnarok Online at Ragnalaunch in Glorietta. She began to attract attention when she won 3rd place in the 2003 C3 Convention as Gun Mage Rikku of Final Fantasy X-2. This led to her and her younger sister Ashley Gosiengfiao being featured on the cover of Issue 14 of Culture Crash Magazine, a Manga Magazine in the Philippines. Since then, she cosplayed a series of characters from over 40 anime, movie and video game titles including Witchblade, G.I. Joe, K-On!, Paradise Kiss, Evangelion, Final Fantasy X-2. As a multi-awarded cosplayer, she is now being invited to appear at conventions or to judge competitions locally and abroad. She started judging at the age of 18. International Appearances Due to her constant contribution to the cosplay community in the Philippines, Gosiengfiao has been invited into various international cosplay conventions and events as a participant, performer, judge or simply to attend as a guest. In November 2009 at Suntec Convention Hall in Singapore, Gosiengfiao, together with her younger sister Ashley, represented the Philippines as one of the finalist for the Anime Festival Asia Regional Cosplay Championship. Alodia and Ashley cosplayed as Masane Amaha and Shiori Tsuzuki from the Witchblade anime. On July 3, 2010, Singapore, Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao were invited by the Mascot Parade supported by the Singapore Government to judge the cosplay competition. They both cosplayed characters from the romantic anime series Paradise Kiss. In addition to judging the cosplay competition, Alodia and Ashley also performed two songs on stage: Lonely in Gorgeous from Paradise Kiss, and Real Emotion from the hit Japanese roleplaying game Final Fantasy X-2. Animax also held "Meet and greet" sessions with Alodia in Camp Pong for Singaporean anime and cosplay enthusiasts. * On July 21–24, 2010, Gosiengfiao attended the annual San Diego Comic-Con for a cosplay gathering at Kotobukiya booth. She landed a big role in the San Diego Comic-Con documentary directed by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) and produced by Legendary Pictures. The documentary team followed 5 different people from around the world to document what they did at the San Diego Comic Convention in the US - line up includes an artist, comic book enthusiast, cosplayer, etc. Part of the team was Stan Lee, the father of Marvel Comics. This led to a meeting with Legendary Pictures CEO/founder Thomas Tull and vice president Alex Garcia, regarding their new upcoming movie called Warcraft. After this meeting,Gosiengfiao was featured in a very popular US-based website Kotaku. Blizzard Entertainment, maker of Warcraft, got in touch with Alodia regarding business and an endorsement deal for their new game, Star Craft 2. She also won the "Hall Costume Award", an award given by the Costume Designers Guild to convention members who wear exceptional get-ups inside the venue. On October 31, 2010, Gosiengfiao together with Animax and Hong Kong Tourism Board held an event "Hong Kong Halloween Treats Party". Hong Kong Halloween Treats Party is the culmination of a one-and-a-half-month long campaign by Hong Kong Tourism Board and Animax to promote Hong Kong across South-East Asia as the dream Halloween destination. Cosplayers from all over Asia gathered to celebrate the event. On November 13, 2010, Alodia was back again in Singapore for the Animé Festival Asia 2010 in Suntec Convention Hall, this time she was invited as a Celebrity Judge for the AFA Regional Cosplay Championship. The same event Alodia and Ashley attended as a finalist and representative of the Philippines way back 2009. Gosiengfiao graced the event along with the Japanese celebrity guests namely Danny Choo, Ichirou Mizuki, May'n, SCANDAL, JAM Project, angela, Kana Hanazawa, Milky Holmes and the Cosplayers Kaname and Aira. * * On November 27, 2010, Gosiengfiao’s Rei Ayanami Grimrock version cosplay made its first appearance at the 2010 Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Brisbane Australia, she was invited to guest judge the Madman National Cosplay Championship as part of the Supanova Cosplay Festival. Endorsements, Media and Press Her remarkable achievements in the cosplay community led her way to be recognized by the mainstream media and various companies in the Philippines. Currently she is endorsing a whitening skin care product; * a health food and beverage product; a Japanese Sushi bar; a toy collector and figurine distributor in the Philippines; a large video game company based in Japan; a clothing line; and Japanese snack. She also became one of the brand ambassador of a Philippine telecommunication company. Past endorsements include many video game companies such as Level-Up Games, E-Games, Kelphil's Shade and SEGA's Love and Berry. She was part of the Official Muse Guild for the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Mu Online. She was also a game moderator for another MMORPG called Khan Online. Gosiengfiao was chosen as the Rose-It Girl during the Level Up Games’ ROSE Online event and was given the title of "Community Manager" and a one-year contract with Level Up Games. As the official model and endorser of IPVG-EGames Zhu Xian Online game in 2009, Gosiengfiao, an avid gamer, hold her first Fans Day during the Domination 3 Event on April 2009. Gosiengfiao is the Animax’s first ever Levi’s Kawaii girl winner in the last episode of Mad Mad Fun, which was announced on air on October 27, 2007. In 2010, Alodia together with Ashley Gosiengfiao and model Steph Henares was chosen by Animax to be their Ambassador and VJ, known as the Ani-Mates. It was the first time Animax has chosen a cosplayer as one of its VJ's. Gosiengfiao's cosplay and hosting stints in various events and Animax paved the way for her first project in ABS-CBN. She is now seen as a Host in ABS-CBN's prank show titled L.O.L Laugh Out Loud with Luis Manzano every Saturday night. She has been featured in several magazines such as Candy Magazine, Meg Magazine, GAME! Magazine, Digital Photographers Philippines Magazine and newspapers like Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin & Manila Times. She was also invited to appear as guest on TV shows like MogTV, QTV 11, Front Act, Matanglawin and Mel and Joey. Other than local media, Gosiengfiao has also been featured in newspapers and magazine in different countries such as Japan, Singapore and United States. She was also Part of the book called OTACOOL: Worldwide Otaku rooms and OTACOOL2: Worldwide Cosplayers by Danny Choo She was also featured on a TV show in Tokyo “Culture: Japan” featuring her costumes, artworks, comic books and figure collections which was also shown in Animax Gosiengfiao ranked #76 in the Philippine FHM 100 Sexiest Women poll for 2010, and rank #87 in 2009 . She was named by UNO Magazine as one of the Most Influential Women in the Philippines. List of Cosplayed Characters Art Awards Art Awards*1st Place Unedited Category, My Toy Photo Contest, Collecticon 2008, October 5, 2008*8th Place Anima Fanart Contest; Artbook to be published on March 2008*Ateneo Numina: "E-Vogue" Digital Art Finalist; Rockwell Powerplant Mall; January 26, 2008*1st Place Digital Art; U Got Game X3M XPO; Market! Market! Activity Area; September 22, 2007*Deviant Art Daily Deviation; DeviantArt.com; September 14, 2005*1st Place Modern Filipina; Ateneo Siklab Fashion Design Week; September 9, 2005*2nd Place Freestyle; Ateneo Siklab Fashion Design Week; September 9, 2005*3rd Place Ateneo Apparel; Ateneo Siklab Fashion Design Week; September 9, 2005*1st place; Ragnarok Online War of Emperium On-The-Spot Drawing Contest; Glorietta 4 Activity Center; April 3, 2004*2nd place Digital Art Contest; Tinta Sinta Pinta, MCHS; SY 2003-2004*1st place On-The-Spot Poster-Making Contest; Science Week, MCHS; SY 2003-2004*2nd place On-The-Spot Poster-Making Contest; Peace History Week, MCHS SY 2003-2004*1st place On-The-Spot Poster-Making Contest; 25th Year Anniversary of Miriam College High School; SY 2001-2002 References External links * * fr:Alodia Gosiengfiao